[hejira]

Hey all, glad to be here. I've done some searching & reading on the forums here and still haven't found answers, so here goes just another "where should I live" post. Apologies up front.

I'm moving to Las Vegas in August of this year. I'm coming with job (to open a small office) so no problems with employment.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to make a scouting trip beforehand, but am going to try.

Basically I'll be arriving in town not knowing where my workplace will be but searching & finding office space for my company.

Edit: Oh god, I just saw the threads about the planned developments/gentrification of downtown. Ugh. *sigh* It sounds like it's not going to be a very affordable area of town to live in or the best kept secret awesome neighborhood anymore...?

Since I don't know where my workplace will be, I am drawing a blank on looking for a place to live.

About me & what I'm looking for in a place to live:

- I'm single, no kids & none on the way, don't care about schools or buying a house
- 1 tiny dog (seriously: 6 lbs.)
- Apartment, 1 bedroom, around $800/month
- I don't like that cookie-cutter feeling of well-planned-out suburbs. (no offense intended to anyone)
- I'm looking for some funk and personality & a sense of community in my neighborhood. This has led me to look at downtown near Fremont.
- Good walking area: good = coffee, groceries, interesting people, trustworthy, safe feeling

Is this a bad combination of expectations? Misperceptions? Unreasonable? What adjustments should I make?

Are there "office space for lease buildings" in this area (not retail spaces)?

What apartment complexes would you recommend or street names to look for in my online searching?

Are there other neighborhoods you'd suggest I check out instead of downtown?

What say you?

In much appreciation!
Hejira

[logline]

There is no place downtown that is completely safe, nor walkable to a grocery store. As for "personality"... yeah, Fremont has that in spades. Not all personalities will mesh with yours though, guaranteed.

If you want something that has all of your requirements, I'd look at The District near Green Valley Ranch. $800/mo. may be hard to come by though. It's nice.

Cheaper and walkable to dining/coffee/groceries would be one of the apt. complexes near Eastern, between the 215/Silverado Ranch. Also very safe. A little cookie-cutter, though. (honestly, this is a small concession for getting everything else you want)

I'm assuming office spaces are much cheaper near those last 2 locations than downtown, but you'll have to do your own research on that.

[Raiderman]

Sorry, but I know mostly about Henderson, so not much help with retail offerings downtown. But along Sunset, Eastern, Pecos, etc down here in my neighborhood, there are many small storefronts for lease. There are also quite a few apartment complexes, but, like logline said, Henderson (and Green Valley in particular), is pretty cookie-cutter. I would look at the apartments on Green Valley Parkway - walking distance to pretty much everything. I live off of Wigwam/Green Valley Parkway and can usually find what I'm looking for right behind me in the Smith's plaza.

Good luck with your search!

[hejira]

Thanks for the great suggestions. I'm gonna explore these areas on Google Earth.

logline, seems like the zip codes for Eastern between 215/Silverado Ranch are like 89119/89123?

I'm not sure if I've located the area you suggest, Raiderman, but I'm looking - what is your zip code there?

Thanks much both of you.

[Raiderman]

I am in 89074. Mostly single family houses, but there are some apartment and condo complexes around.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by hejira

...I'm coming with job (to open a small office) so no problems with employment...

Welcome!

It may also be important to live within a reasonable commute distance of your new office. So, a couple questions about your office-to-be.

Is it retail? Is it light commercial? Will have you frequent visits from customers? Do you need conference rooms? What about parking? Do you plan on having a receptionist? What about access to catering? How much space will you need for the first 5 years? How much expansion to you imagine? What do you expect to pay per square foot?

It might also be important to live/work within a reasonable commute distance of the airport, or of important customers.


Answering some of these questions can help us point you to some areas to live.

[hejira]

Hi SportyandMisty - thanks for the welcome!

The short answer is that everything is unknown right now. I'll be looking for BOTH a place to live and office space. One "limiting" factor would be that the office space must be a good value - so I would imagine that would affect where the office is located and thus where I live. Make sense?

One thing I'm also wondering is where I should plan to stay for a week or 2 while getting everything settled? I suppose there are hotels near the airport for this purpose? And probably plenty of hotels off the interstates, like the 215?

Locating near the airport is not a priority.

About the office:

- it is not a retail/walk-in office - so we're looking at full service maintenance plan about 700 sq ft office building with parking to start off with. Growth will really kick in starting August 2015 and on - doubling I would imagine as time goes on. So we either need a building with the right expansion capabilities or to move offices over time.

- We won't have need of conference room for meetings with customers, but our small staff (which is expected to grow quite a bit over the next few years) does need a place to gather to conference long distance with our owner.

I will have a lot of "say" in where the office is located, since basically I'll be scouting office locations at the same time I'm scouting a place for me to live. And I would indeed like them to be close to one another - it sure would be great to walk or bike to work.

From what I've read, vacancies for office space are pretty high in LV, so it's affordable and a good value for the whole package.

I hope this information gives a little better picture - which is, basically - all is unknown!

Any suggestions or input would be just fabulous & much appreciated.

Smiles-Hejira

[Raiderman]

Definitely check out spaces on Eastern. There are multi-use office buildings with many vacancies.

[hejira]

Will do Raiderman - I Google Earthed South on Eastern from 215 & noticed lots of commercial space - looks good - awesome, thanks!

[Raiderman]

Originally Posted by hejira

Will do Raiderman - I Google Earthed South on Eastern from 215 & noticed lots of commercial space - looks good - awesome, thanks!

The one I'm thinking of is between Wigwam and Sunset. On the left going north.